Saturday, April 30, 2011

today i had the opportunity to accompany my husband to work. as a community policing officer, he has attended LOVE Wichita projects for the past 3 years. i asked him if i could come out and take photos this year. we visited his 5 project houses throughout the morning. projects were completed by Eastminster(3 of the 5 houses), Maranatha and Westlink, where we attend. there was a lot of painting, yard work, rebuilding and even some critters at the houses.

early morning before shots.

this homeowner had siding replaced, yard work done and a new fence put up by the westlink crew. her pup needed to come out and inspect the progress(that and he didn't like the banging!).

an eastminster group found this guy when they moved out an old couch. :)

when their first garage door plan fell through,

they made a new plan.

maranatha replaced rotted boards, did lots of painting...

on some super high ladders, too.

one of our very close friends had his house worked on today, too.

he's been battling his kidneys this year, as they've

decided to fail his body and even had pneumonia today.

the young married group from eastminster rebuilt two porches for him, painted, did yard work, all to keep from future oci write ups.

on behalf of justin and myself, we thank you guys for all of your efforts today!!

the house project with westlink brought out two other police officers, both friends of justin's.

Monday, April 18, 2011

first off, i want to thank everyone for their kind & encouraging words on my facebook page. i really enjoyed the photo weekend last week and hearing that you all enjoyed the images as much as i enjoyed taking them is a big plus! getting that much attention kinda made me sick to my stomach, though. it was slightly overwhelming. i'm a behind the scenes kind of girl...i run away from the spotlight...but i thank you, anyway. :)

i seem to have caused a stir with photo weekend...added some confusion about my availability as a photographer.

i am so sorry for that.

to those of you whom i have already turned down for shoots, i really did not mean to tease you with photos and then tell you i'm not able to do yours when you asked. that being said, i wanted to take the time to apologize to those people & others like them, with two reasons as to why i'm not available.

reason #1: i'm married to a navy reservist.

not just any reservist, either. one that is encountering deployment readiness. in this case, it calls for special courses, extra training, mandatory inspections. he's gone a lot. to give you a better idea of "a lot", there will be a month where he will only work 8 days at his civilian job, the rest will be reserved for military. and since the arkansas river isn't big enough for his ship to dock at, it means he's traveling.

reason #2: these two.

yes, i could easily find a babysitter.

yes, i could pawn them onto their grandparents.

or my sister.

or my friends.

however, i don't believe that they are someone else's responsibility.

more importantly, they need stability.

they need some routine in their lives.

they need to know that their mom is going

to be there when they wake up from nap.

they don't need to be shocked that someone else is

there filling my position, even if it is just for an hour.

they need to know that they're my first priority,

not my computer.

my little guy has become very confused by this change in routine. when his dad is gone, he asks if he's at work

or with the navy guys.

when daddy's traveling,

i get asked several times a day if we're going that day to the airport to get daddy.

there will be times when i am able to set up a special

weekend to do photos,

just like i did last weekend.

i don't mind doing several in one weekend.

i think it works better for the kids if they're

hanging out with family for a few hours one day,

as opposed to many random days.

i do want to do another weekend shoot.

i just don't know when yet.

in the meantime, you will see photos.

they'll be free work.

you will see photos from

a baby shoot.

you'll see shots from LOVE Wichita.

more than likely there will be photos posted from our

vacation and my sister's new baby.

also, i can tell you right now that i will not be doing photo shoots this summer.

Welcome from the Whyte House.

I'm Susie Whyte...mother of 2, a sailor's wife, fan of pacifiers and soccer. I feel very passionate about photographing lower income families, to fill the need for families that cannot afford photos. Memories are one thing that will never be scarce, even if money in the bank is.